5 Gluten Free Friendly Newcastle Restaurants
Newcastle has some amazing restaurants these days, with more and more chefs becoming coeliac aware. We now also have a 100% gluten free restaurant! Here’s our top 5 recommendations of restaurants in the city, Darby St and Beaumont St areas, that are willing to make the effort to cater to coeliac and gluten intolerant customers.
Meantime on Beaumont
Paymasters
Meet
Rustica
The Commonwealth Hotel
All reviews are valid at the time of the visit, however as restaurant menus and staff change over time it is important to do your own due diligence and ask your own questions to ensure that your health is protected.
Meantime on Beaumont
Gluten free bar snacks and beer anyone?
Meantime on Beaumont is a bar, craft brewery and family-friendly restaurant serving casual pub style meals. In exciting news, Meantime have switched their kitchen to 100% gluten free (as of August 2022). This is great news for the coeliac and gluten intolerant community in Newcastle!
They have a large selection of delicious gf meals and snacks, and in what might be a first for Newcastle, there is Two Bay Gluten Free Lager on tap! There is a great selection of kids meals and desserts, and they cater for other dietary restrictions as well.
Gluten Free Surf & Turf served up at Meantime on Beaumont
The owner of Meantime, Sally, is a coeliac herself, so she understands the importance of reducing cross-contamination.
The whole menu is gluten-free, so need for symbols like GF and GFO.
Meantime on Beaumont
104 Beaumont Street, Hamilton
meantime.com.au Open Wed - Sunday (closed Mondays and Tuesdays)
Paymasters
Paymasters, located in a historic building on the foreshore, is one of the most popular restaurants in Newcastle for gluten free dining, due to the wide variety of gluten free options on its menu. More than half of their menu is gluten free or has a gf option available.
They are known for their many fresh seafood options, with the garlic prawn entree a local favourite. They offer a delicious freshly baked roast pumpkin cornbread as a bread alternative. There are even gf dessert options which are rare to find.
Paymasters
Newcastle foreshore next to Customs House, 18 Bond Street, Newcastle
www.paymasters.com.au 0429 779 920
Meet
Meet is a Darby Street bar and restaurant with an upbeat New York vibe.
Their speciality is all-you-can-eat Brazilian churrasco (grilled meat). Servers bring selections of meat on skewers around to the table and cut slices off for each guest.
Word on the street is that Meet is a kind of ‘speakeasy’ for gluten free diners. Their menu has no gf options listed, so at first glance you might be inclined to think it wasn’t coeliac friendly.
Locals in the know however rave about their experience eating here, and when we contacted Meet to find out about their gf options, we learnt that their grilled meat is all gluten free. The sides that accompany the churrasco are also gf, apart from two: the banana fritters and the pasta of the night.
On the Sharing menu (see below), only the chickpea and confit garlic dip with charred house bread contains gluten.
Meet Bar & Restaurant
9 Darby Street (Hunter Street end, near Finnegans Hotel)
www.meet.restaurant/ 02 4925 2226
Rustica
Looking for something a little fancier for a date night or special occasion?
Rustica is a Mediterranean-style restaurant overlooking Newcastle Beach, focusing on superior quality meat and seafood. The decor is eclectic and the views are gorgeous.
Their signature dish, the Pukara Estate Kleftico lamb shoulder, with oregano potatoes, seasonal greens, candied walnuts and lemon, is both gluten and dairy free.
They are happy to accommodate dietary requirements, and will swap elements in dishes that are gluten based for other items. You might even have the chef visit your table to chat with you about your needs!
Rustica
1 King St, Newcastle
rustica.com.au
The Commonwealth Hotel
Last but definitely not least, we have the Commonwealth Hotel in Cooks Hill. This grand old dame of a pub has been serving up beer and tucker since 1882 and if the walls could talk, I bet they’d have a few tall tales to tell!
‘The Commo’ is a local favourite for the coeliac community, serving up a wide variety of coeliac safe dishes. From gluten free house-crumbed chicken schnitzel and gf garlic bread, to asian style dishes such as Seven Spiced Squid, there is something for everyone. And save room for dessert because they have gluten free waffles (yum).
They have an all day kitchen and use separate fryers for coeliac customers.
As always, make sure to ask your own questions and due you own due diligence to protect your health.
The Commonwealth Hotel
Corner of Union Street and Bull Street Cooks Hill (one block behind Wests City)
commonwealthhotel.com.au/menu
